Another Month ... Another Hospital Stay

The months of January and February were pretty good for John. He only had a couple episodes with his knees/fevers that were worse than normal, which meant we only needed to use his codeine (if I remember correctly) three times. Yay!

He started physical therapy, which was very exciting. Denise, his therapist, is amazing. I can tell she really loves working with the kids, and she really loves John! She gave us exercises to do at home, most of which we can incorporate into every day playing, to help build John's leg/knee strength and keep his range of movement where it needs to be. Denise has actually recommended we put a hold on therapy for now because she can't find enough tasks to challenge him! John can climb steps one foot after another with no help (a task generally not learned until approx 4yrs of age), ride a tricycle on his own, and even rollerskate! He's a tough little cookie, and he's amazed all of us! Josh and I are so incredibly proud of how well he has done.

Although we haven't battled as many big flare-ups with John's knees, we have still dealt with the "normal" pain, stiffness, and aches he gets. We've also been passing the sicky germs around. No fun! Both boys had a stomach ick at the same time. We had towels and buckets strategically placed around the living room. Ick! Thankfully, that only lasted a couple days. Jake had an ear infection that was accompanied by a bad cough. Coughing is the only symptom he shows when he has an ear infection, crazy kiddo. Most of the time we have no idea he's got anything going on! He's doing much better now, though, and he's still as ornery as ever. :)

We did have a bit of a scare with John again last week. He was very sick for several days and ultimately ended up not even being able to keep down a little bit of water. We were in contact with his pediatrician at least once a day updating her on how he was doing, and we were all extremely concerned because his healthy just continually deteriorated. During the weekend his fever bounced from 100* all the way up to 102.6*, and he just layed in my bed whimpering and completely lethargic. His pediatrician tried a new antibiotic, but it did nothing. We tried alternating tylenol and ibuprofen, as recommended, but that did nothing. After a full day of keeping absolutely nothing down, his pediatrician and I both decided he needed a visit to the ER for IV fluids for hydration.

The visit to the ER was, as usual, less than pleasant. The doctor seemed to have "bigger concerns" than my sick child. In fact, he barely spent twenty seconds checking John before he got a call and had to leave. A nurse came in several hours later, after John's antibiotics were through his IV and about half a bag of fluids had gone through, and said we were being discharged -- that the doctor felt John was doing well enough at this point to go home. Funny thing is that John was just laying, almost limp, in my arms. I told the nurse to send the doctor back in, do  NOT touch his IV, turn the fluids back on, and we are not leaving. Josh ended up having to give the pediatrician a call (he was at work, and I was updating him via text) and letting her know the situation John and I were dealing with in the ER before anything got done. (The pediatrician is located in the same hospital we were at, just up a few floors.) Finally, the doctor came back in, pulled up a chair, and tried to convince me that John was fine and could go home. I told him John was NOT fine, he DID need more fluids, and we were NOT going home until he got them. We discussed things a little bit further, and the doctor made a recommendation to John's pediatrician (basically because of my demanding) that John be admitted for hydration and observation.

I am so incredibly thankful I insisted John be admitted. They gave him antibiotics and fluids through his IV all through the night, and by morning he was actually sitting up in bed and asking to watch cartoons. Yay! Amazingly huge improvement! And he'd stopped vomiting! Double yay! I got him to eat a few cheerios and a couple chocolate chip cookies (he is his mama's child), and by afternoon he was asking to play! Another huge yay! The turned off his IV, we pushed fluids from a cup, and I got him to munch on some little snacks here and there ... by late afternoon, I got word that we were going to be sent home. This time, I had a happy little man on my hands who was roaring like a dinosaur choochooing like a train. I hadn't seen him acting that happy in a LONG time! It was amazing!

He did super super well throughout the beginning of the week. Daycare drop offs in the mornings have been tough, but I expected that considering he was used to having Mama all week and had to readjust. The back and forth is extremely tough on him. I felt like we were finally coming into a clear patch until I got a call from his daycare this afternoon. John spiked a 102.2* fever at daycare, but it left just as quickly as it came. They know of his knee issues and the symptoms that come and go with that, but they always give me a call whenever something like that happens. They said he was drinking lots of water and a little juice and was just tired and cranky, but otherwise was doing fine. Since 102* is the average temperature he gets with these flare-ups, and considering the weather changing (which affects him sooooo badly -- think of your regular arthritis and multiply it tenfold or more, then pop that in a 2yr old's knees) and also considering the fact that his temperature was back under 100* and there was just about an hour left before normal pick up time, I decided to wait it out. Tonight he took lots of water, ate really well, and his temperature was back to normal. Hopefully it stays there!